Officer Manuel Pacheco reported he was on patrol on Post Road around 9:15 p.m. on Jan. 15 when he saw a driver just in front of him holding his cell phone in front of him as he was driving and appeared to be texting. He said he pulled up beside the car and saw that the driver continued to text on his cell phone and then fell in behind it and activated his lights and siren to pull the car over. He said he told the driver why he was pulled over and the driver acknowledged he had been texting and apologized but Pacheco said he smelled marijuana in the car and the driver acknowledged he had smoked in the car. He said he asked him out of the car and frisked him and then put him in the back seat of his cruiser while he checked the car for anything that was a hazard for the K-9 Viking. He said the driver admitted there were remnants of marijuana in the car but denied any substantial amount was there. He said Viking went inside the car and “hit” on the back seat but they found no marijuana there and then opened the trunk. He said they immediately smelled marijuana and found three bags of various kinds of marijuana, bags for packaging it and a digital scale. He said they also found a brown substance that appeared to be hashish and a small bag of white powder suspected to be MDMA, or “Mollie” as it is called on the street. The bags of marijuana weighed 18, 28, and 18 grams each and the hashish was a gram, according to Pacheco, and the Mollie weighed in at 3 grams. Alexander Disantis, 19, of 146 Brookwood Rd. in Warwick was charged with possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver. Court records show that this was the third time Disantis was arrested in Warwick for possession and the second arrest for possession with intent, a charge that he was currently out on bail for. He was held without bail at the ACI.

ON THE LAM

Officer Darren Parrillo reported he was dispatched to the Rhode Island Mall around 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 22 for a shoplifting in progress and he and Officer Michelle Caron were responding. He said they were advised that the couple they were after had arrived in a car with Massachusetts plates but they had already run by that car as they pushed a carriage filled with goods from the Wal-Mart store toward the Toys R Us store. He said they quickly arrested both subjects and they were facing shoplifting charges, which seemed to be the least of their troubles after Parrillo learned the couple were fugitives from Las Vegas, where they were arrested in August as part of a ring that specialized in stealing catalytic converters from hundreds of vehicles in Nevada. Local sources called the ring a million-dollar operation and the two suspects, identified as Michael Sbraccia, 43, and Dawn Marie Yon, 21, of 26 Renee Dr. in Wakefield, Mass., had been charged with 36 and 34 counts of grand larceny before they jumped bail in Nevada. Sbraccia was held as a fugitive from justice. Yon was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle when the car they arrived in was reported stolen in Massachusetts and shoplifting in Wal-Mart, in addition to being a fugitive. They were both held without bail at the ACI.

STOLEN CHECKS

A woman reported a larceny to police on Jan. 19. The woman said three checks and $450 was taken from her mother’s house on Peabody Drive and it appeared that her mother’s house cleaner was responsible for it. She said she got a text message from the woman on Jan. 13 saying she had to leave early, followed by a second message the next day saying she would return on Jan. 18, and another the next day saying she was in trouble and would pay her back. The complainant told police she thought the text might have been intended for somebody else until she found out about the missing checks and money. She said the cleaner sent texts several times asking her not to call police and to set up meetings to come up with a repayment plan but the cleaner missed those appointments. The woman identified Lori A. Janelle, 40, of 289 Lake Shore Dr. in Warwick as the suspect and police arrested her when she admitted she stole the checks and used them to buy crack cocaine when she relapsed into her drug habit. She was released with a summons after she provided police with a written statement admitting the crime.

SHOPLIFTING

A foot pursuit into the woods behind the Stop & Shop on Quaker Lane Jan. 24 resulted in another shoplifting charge for a West Greenwich man who was recently charged with being a habitual offender and the arrest of a woman with an outstanding warrant who apparently was living in a tent in the woods. Officer Jacob Elderkin and Jason Brodeur said loss prevention had Bruce R. Authelet, 43, of 183 Victory Hwy. in custody when he bolted out of the security office of the store, followed by loss prevention agents. Elderkin arrived and joined the chase, but the man ignored his commands and kept running until they both slid down a snow-covered hill and Elderkin told him to surrender or be hit with a taser. The man surrendered. Elderkin said they then saw the tent, with two people in it and another officer arrived to deal with that situation.

Officer Nicolas DiNardo reported a check revealed that the woman they found in the tent had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear for an obstructing an officer charge and Kristen Pratt, 31, with no fixed address, was later transported to the ACI to await arraignment in District Court.

DUI AND REFUSAL

Officer John Curley reported stopping a car he found straddling two lanes on Post Road in Apponaug on Jan. 9. He said it was about 6:10 p.m. and the driver smelled of alcohol and appeared to be under the influence. He said he ran a check on the driver and found out that his license was suspended for refusal on Dec. 18 of last year. He said the driver complained that he was suffering from gout so he asked him to take a preliminary breath test, which he agreed to. He said the man registered a .107 on the portable tester and he was taken to headquarters where he refused to take another breath test. Robert J. Willard, 57, of 69 Helen Ave. in Warwick was charged with DUI, refusal, driving on a suspended license and laned roadway violations and held for arraignment in District Court as a bail violator.

Officer Christian Vargas reported he went to an accident on the Greenwood Bridge around 9:40 p.m. on Jan. 10. He said a woman who hit a pole had a strong odor of alcohol coming from her and appeared to be under the influence. He said witnesses said she rear-ended another car before she jumped the curb and hit the pole. He said he gave the woman a field sobriety test and she failed it. Vargas said Michelle Benson, 42, of 20 Belfield Dr. in Johnston refused a breath test at headquarters. She was charged with DUI and refusal and later released to a sober adult.

Officer Robert Gauvin reported he pulled a car over for driving erratically and struck the median several times after it ran a red light at Toll Gate and Bald Hill Roads around 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 19. He said the car continued without pulling over with jerking motions and rolled forward before it stopped in front of On The Border. He told the driver why he pulled her over and she said she was erratic because she was texting and he could check her cell phone for proof. He said he told her that wasn’t necessary because her phone was in her closed purse and there was no time for her to put it away before she pulled over. He said he already smelled alcohol and noticed her voice was very fast and indistinct. He gave her a field sobriety test and she failed it and was taken to headquarters where she registered a .160 and a .179 on the breath test. Abigael L. Manzoni, 22, of 52 Allard St. in Cranston, was charged with DUI and later released to a sober adult.